Longtime Hudson County Superintendent of Elections Marie Borace of North Bergen lost her battle with cancer today.

She was 70.

"Today the residents of North Bergen have lost a devoted civil servant and I have lost a dear friend," Rep. Albio Sires, D-West New York, said of Borace who was appointed to the position in March 1998.

"My sympathies go out to Marie's husband, Steve, her daughter, Mary Anne, son, Stephen, and three grandchildren during this very difficult time," Sires said. "Marie's dedication, impartiality and professionalism as Hudson County's superintendent of elections will be greatly missed."

Nicholas Sacco, North Bergen mayor and a state senator, also called Borace a friend and praised her professionalism.

“Marie was a good friend and a dedicated public servant who was well known for her integrity and ability to work objectively with all people, regardless of their political affiliation,” Sacco said in a statement. “Because of her professionalism, Marie was reappointed to her important position by both Republican and Democratic governors.”

Stephen Borace said his wife was diagnosed with cancer in December 2011 and had a lung removed. She was in remission until December 2012 and had been fighting the disease since then. He and their two children where at her bedside when she died in a Wayne hospice this afternoon.

Marie Borace was born in Christ Hospital in Jersey City and the couple married in 1965 in North Bergen.

“She was the most personable person you ever wanted to meet,” said the husband. “We would be walking in a supermarket and she would say ‘You remember so and so?’ and of course I didn’t but she would know their children’s names, their grandchildren’s names, everything.”

Stephen Borace said his wife “never had a bad thing to say about anyone and I don’t think anyone had a bad thing to say about her.” He said when she first began working at the election board employees there weren’t well paid and she got them raises and “went to bat for them.”

The husband said his wife was suffering so much in the end that her death was a grace.

Donna DeSomma, Marie Borace’s secretary, said Borace “was a wonderful personal friend of mine besides being my boss. DeSomma said Borace "treasured the job and she treasured the people she worked with.”

Asked what was most important to his wife, Stephen Borace said “Her children and her grandchildren -- and me. She always took care of me.”

The funeral arrangements are being handled by Vainieri Funeral Home in North Bergen.

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez also praised Borace for her work and as a friend.

"It is with great sadness that I extend my deepest and heartfelt sympathies to the Borace family," he said in a statement. "A true professional and dedicated civil servant, Marie served the people of Hudson County as the superintendent of elections with merit and distinction. She was a dear friend, a devoted wife, mother and grandmother, and she will be terribly missed. My thoughts and prayers are with Marie's (family) during this trying time."